Lying awake, thinking about books

Just One Night by Gayle Forman

Just One Night by Gayle Forman is a novella that closes Willem and Allyson’s story after they discover each other again in Amsterdam following the tumultuous events in Just One Day and Just One Year. It begins with their reunion after the fateful Shakespeare production that Willem performs in, and gives us a satisfying conclusion to Willem and Allyson’s romance.

Forman is able to instantly evoke the atmosphere of the previous novels and reintroduce characters that we have forgotten. She even gives us a bit of conflict and suspense over what will happen with Willem’s final performance and its potential repercussions. It even gets a little bit meta in that we readers are like the people and friends Willem and Allyson have encountered in the past year who are all invested in them finding each other again, and now we get to have the emotional payoff. This short story ties up enough loose ends that we can now believe in their happy ending.